The Belize Aggressor III departed early Sunday into the rising sun with beautiful flat seas, toward the western side of Turneffe Atoll. As the vessel approached the atoll, a little family of dolphins stopped by to say hi! With light westerly winds, the Aggressor III trailed into the shallows to make it easy for the check out dives. Scattered coral heads below buzzed with traffic of dozens of juvenile fish, while a spotted eagle ray cruised just over the sandy bottom where a resting stingray laid at the Sandy Slopes dive site. Just over the slope, the creole wrasse seemed busy guarding their base as they swam up and down the reef.

The vessel then moved to the east side of Turneffe for the afternoon dives. Some divers were able to spot an illusive white lined toad fish, while others enjoyed taking pictures of the amazing sponges on the site. Lettuce slug, lobsters, banded coral shrimp and arrow crabs were also amongst the sightings.

The crossing over to Lighthouse Reef Atoll was pretty smooth and perfectly in order for a relaxed evening in preparation for the following day of diving.

Monday August 21, 2017

Dive Sites: Lighthouse Wall

For a warm welcome dive to the Lighthouse Reef Atoll, the Belize Aggressor III moved to the Halfmoon Caye area. The dive site, Lighthouse Wall, with a nicely parallel wall was just the place to be as a reef shark quickly made its presence known to the divers. A Hawksbill turtle also made an appearance, while a friendly photogenic Nassau grouper entertained divers. Shield head slugs and garden eel were the cool entertainment for the macro divers.

With a very unpredictable low-pressure system, varying from disturbance to depression to storm, “Harvey” forced the Belize Aggressor III back to port to be on the safe side.

Tuesday August 22, 2017

Dive Site: Elbow and Long Caye Ridge

Without an eventful night behind and clears skies in the morning, the Belize Aggressor III got the “all clear” to voyage out to sea again. Hence it sailed away to Turneffe Elbow. This site is known for its large marine life and that day it was even more. Divers saw a pair of manatee swimming over their heads, a new experience for 17 of 18 divers. Sightings included a couple of hawksbill turtles, a toad fish, several lobsters, and a green eel. Overall, it was just an amazing beautiful reef dive.

Next up, the boat headed back to Lighthouse Reef Atoll for the afternoon and night dives. Long Caye Ridge was exciting in different ways from the Elbow, as the divers found a school of Jacks under the boat. A long free-swimming moray eel, sharp tail eel, barracudas and a stingray were some of the sightings for the dive.

The day started with some liquid sunshine, “rain”, and the wind changing direction; hence the Belize Aggressor III headed to Halfmoon Caye Wall. This site would later be described by some divers as “Sharknado”, while others were just happy with the abundance of marine creatures and fish. A couple reef sharks and turtles appeared off the wall, and on the sand bed the divers spotted numerous macro creatures that included flapping ding bat, Leech Aglaja, Berolina Aglaja, Norman Aglaja and Black Aglaja from the Headshield slug’s family. The divers found several arrow shrimps, and a stingray actively feeding.

For the afternoon and night dives, we moved to the west side of Long Caye to a spectacular section of the reef called Cathedral. The divers were accompanied for a while by a couple of reef sharks, as well as turtles and scads of tiny sea creatures such as gobies and neck crabs on corals and gorgonians.

Thursday August 24, 2017

Dive Sites: Bluehole Silver Caves and Long Caye Wall

Today the Belize Aggressor decided it was move-around day. It started the morning by venturing through some patch reefs, sand beds and grassy bottoms, till it eventually ended up in one of the most famous sinkholes around the world, the Great Bluehole of Belize. The divers were able to explore up to 130 feet and dive through a series of amazing stalactite formations.

For the second and third dives, the boat anchored beautifully over a crack in the reef called Silver Caves, from where the divers were able to see awesome gorgonians and sponges amidst a of spurs and groves topography. The divers spotted a juvenile reef shark that was about a foot and a half long amongst other reef sharks and about 5 spotted eagles rays. They also saw big black groupers swimming through a dense “cloud” of creole wrasse.

Long Caye Wall was the chosen for the afternoon and night dive. The first dive there was pretty much a check out for the night dive. A regular dive that prepared divers for the coming attractions later on that day. On the night dive, the guests were welcomed by a myriad of toadfish, octopus, schools of squids, tarpons, moving lobsters, and even a well-camouflaged longhorn nudibranch.

Friday August 25, 2017

Dive Sites: Julie’s Jungle

With a new day ahead, the Belize Aggressor III woke up on site and ready to dive Julie’s Jungle for the farewell dives. There wasn’t much to be seen so early, but still the divers were able to enjoy the beauty of the coral and sponge formations. The second dive became known as the “turtle dive” since a couple divers spotted a turtle swimming on the surface, which later on was also found on the bottom. And later on, a second turtle was spotted cruising on the opposite direction of the other. This one ended up “buddying” with the divers and swam with them back to the boat. Most definitely a great way to finish off the dives of the week.

This was a very pleasant week as the Belize Aggressor III was delighted to welcome several father-and-son (s) groups and even singles that have joined them on other Aggressor Fleets over the years. Truly a bonding experience to share with amazing people. We hope that they may consider returning to Belize and diving with the Belize Aggressor III again. Congratulation to our iron divers, Thomas, David, Oleg, Terry and Mike